Bangladesh's human rights situation in many instances better than US: Hasan

Negating the United States report on Bangladesh's human right issues, Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud said Thursday that in many instances the human rights situation in Bangladesh is better than the US. 

He said the country is not agreed with the report of the US on human right issues on Bangladesh. 

"I saw the report on human rights of the US State Department and we are not agreed with the report on Bangladesh issue. We think that information and data of the report were collected from some specific sources. And the sources are one-sided and they have given false information to this end," he said.

The minister told the reporters after attending a discussion 'Mahe Ramada and Mass Media' and Iftar Mahfil organised by Bangladesh Sampadak Forum at a hotel in the city.

Hasan said, in fact, in many cases the human rights situation of Bangladesh is better than the US. There is no jail like Guantanamo Bay of the US, a place of arbitrariness and abuse, he added.

The minister said George Floyd, an unarmed black man, had been pinned down with a knee to the neck by a police officer in the US. "Four persons were killed in the US parliament. Such incidents never happened in Bangladesh," said Hasan, also Awami League joint general secretary.

For this, in many instances, the human rights situation of Bangladesh is better than the US, he said, adding that the judicial department is working very independently in Bangladesh. 

As a result, verdict was given against the government and lawmakers of the ruling party were sent to jail, he said.

The minister said that the relation between Bangladesh and the US is very close. The security force, which was mentioned in the human rights report, has also taking technical support from the US. 

Replying to another query, Hasan said, the World Bank in a recent report hinted at higher growth of Bangladesh economy this year. The minister hoped that the persons, who criticized Bangladesh at day and night, would stop their negative criticisms after the report.

With forum advisor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury in the chair, Information and Broadcasting Secretary Md Mokbul Hossain, Press Council Chairman Justice Nizamul Haque, AL Advisory Council Member Mozaffar Hossain Paltu, Dhaka University former Vice Chancellor and Chairman of the board of directors of the national news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique, 

Senior journalist Naimul Islam Khan, Jatiya Press Club President Farida Yeasmin, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) President Omar Faruque and Secretary General Dip Azad, Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) President Sohel Haider Chowdhury and general secretary Akther Hossain and forum convenor Rafiqul Islam Ratan, among others, spoke.